Alaska Airlines Hints At New “Atmos” Lounge Concept

While we’ll have to mark this as “developing” for now, Alaska Airlines seems to have plans to launch a newly named lounge concept, beyond its existing Alaska Lounges.

Alaska files trademark for “Atmos” lounges

The San Francisco Business Journal reports how Alaska has filed a trademark for the name “Atmos.” According to the filing, this will be used for “airport services featuring transit lounge facilities for passenger relaxation.” One would assume that the word “Atmos” is a reference to the term “atmosphere.”

The trademark filing was made on September 20, 2024, just a couple of days after Alaska Air Group completed its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines.

As a reminder, currently Alaska’s network of lounges are branded as Alaska Lounges, with there being a total of nine lounges at six airports. Alaska is planning on doubling its lounge network over the next few years, by 2027.

Could this be Alaska’s new premium lounge branding?

As of now, all we can do is speculate as to what (if anything) Alaska has planned with its new “Atmos” branding. It’s of course possible that this never ends up being used. However, I suspect there is a plan here, specially given the timing of the trademark filing. If it is used, I could see one of two possible uses for this.

One explanation could be that Alaska Air Group will use the “Atmos” branding across its lounge network. Keep in mind that Alaska Air Group intends to keep both Alaska and Hawaiian branding around, so presumably we’ll see more neutral branding used in general, to cover both airlines. Could Alaska Lounges become Atmos Lounges, or something along those lines, to be more inclusive of both brands?

Another possible explanation is that we know that Alaska Air Group is planning to open a new premium lounge at Seattle Airport (SEA). The airline is turning Seattle into a global gateway, by flying Hawaiian wide body jets on long haul routes, with the first route being to Tokyo Narita (NRT).

The company has announced plans to open a new “flagship” lounge in Seattle by 2027. This will be the carrier’s largest lounge yet, and will serve premium passengers on long haul flights. Presumably access requirements will be different than for Alaska Lounges, so it would make sense for the lounge to be branded differently, perhaps as the “Alaska Atmos Lounge,” or something.

That’s a similar concept to what you’ll find at the “big three” US carriers, with American Flagship Lounges, Delta One Lounges, and United Polaris Lounges.

Anyway, we’ll see how this plays out, but I’m guessing one of the above two explanations is what’s going on here.

Bottom line

Alaska Air Group has filed a trademark for the term “Atmos,” and it’s expected to be used for lounges. It remains to be seen how exactly this will be used. My guess is that this will either be Alaska’s new premium lounge branding for long haul flights, or that we’ll see all Alaska Lounges eventually rebranded.

What are you expecting from Alaska’s use of “Atmos” for lounges?